HOC Finance Committee Report recommends changes to protect interns

The House of Commons Standing Committee on Finance has released a report entitled “Youth Employment in Canada: Challenges and Potential Solutions.” We are thrilled to announce that the report contains a recommendation explicitly addressing unpaid internships:

Recommendation 9: That the federal government collect data on unpaid internships in Canada and work with the provinces and territories to ensure the appropriate protections under relevant labour codes. Moreover, the government should study the impacts of unpaid internships.

The Canadian Intern Association would like to commend and thank every member of the Finance Committee for their initiative in investigating youth employment issues in Canada and, in particular, issues surrounding unpaid internships.

Canadian Intern Association Submissions

On March 27, 2014 President of the Canadian Intern Association Claire Seaborn was called as a witness before the finance committee to provide submissions on issues facing interns in Canada. She spoke alongside representatives for the Canadian Federation of Students, the University of Toronto Students’ Union, and others who were called to assist with the Finance Committee’s Youth Employment Study.

The report address various issues concerning youth as students (such as education affordability, tax measures, and transition to the labour market) as well as youth as employees (such as wage subsidies, training, and unemployment). A number of sections discuss the rise of unpaid internships, including a section summarizing witnesses’ views on the challenges faced by interns (p. 15) and solutions for interns (p.16).